Story+1976-11-03+New+York+City,+NY

´´I grew up in this small town....it was, uh....lived in this two-family house....on a street called South Street....on this main highway....it was about 20 miles in from the coast....and ....and my mom, she was....she was a secretary, she worked downtown....in the big office buildings and....my pop, he was....sometimes he worked in this plastics’ factory and sometimes he was a guard at the jail (?) sometimes....he and my grandfather worked in this, in this big rug-mill....used to employ a lot of people in town till they, till they closed it down ....and a lot of times....a lot of times he was home a lot.....I can remember, I can remember the old man used to every night, 9 o´clock sharp, he´d shut off all the lights in the house.... take a six-pack, smoke a cigarette, sit in the kitchen all night long....and my mom, she would set her hair and she would come back downstairs, she would turn on the TV in the frontroom .....and just sit there till she fell asleep, then she´d get up the next morning and she´d go to work.....and I remember my pop, he used to get real, all pissed off if we ever came in and turn any of the lights on at night.....and I used to.....I had this roof, it was off my bedroom, I used to.....in the summertime I used to pull....pull my mattress out the window, sleep outside next to this station, the station used to close up around one o´clock.....I remember all night long there´d be guys pulling in, meeting somebody there, pulling out.....and soon as I hit 16....(?)....I started coming up to New York.....and stay with somebody friends up here and me and this guy, Skibotts, we used to work downtown.....in one of those clubs and if we didn´t have a place to stay, we´d just walk around Times Square all night long until the cops´d I.D us and call, call our pops....send us home on, on the next bus....on the Lincoln Transit (?)....we´d get home.....I´d walk through town....and I´d walk through town again..... until I found myself standing in my driveway....I can remember I was standing in that driveway and he´d lock up the frontdoor so that me and my sister couldn´t come in ´round the front.....I remember standing in that driveway (?)....I´d look through the screen door, I´d see the light of his cigarette butt....thinking I couldn´t wait till I was old enough to take him out.....and so I´d slick my hair back real tight....and step up on the porch and I´d try to make it to my room (?)....but he´d wait till I hit the bottom step and he´d call my name to come back and sit down with him at the kitchen table in the dark.....listen to him telling me things ....and I remember in the wintertime he used to turn on the gas-stove so it got real hot in there and he´d close the kitchen door....and we´d sit there and I´d hear him telling me, I could always hear his voice.....but I could never....sitting there in the dark, I could never....I could never see his face....we’d start talking about nothing (?).....and pretty soon he’d be asking me what I thought I was doing with myself....where I was getting my money from.....we’d end up screaming at each other, my mother’d end up running in from the frontroom pulling him off me, trying to keep us from fighting with each other....and I’d always....I´d always end up running out the backdoor screaming at him, screaming at him.....telling, telling him how it was my life and I was gonna do what I wanted to do....´´
 * 03.11.76 New York City, NY, intro to ´It´s My Life´**

´´This is for Matty and (?)....and the King....(?)....´´
 * 03.11.76 New York City, NY, intro to ´Thunder Road´**

´´On the Seventh Day....when everybody thought that God was resting....He was in the backyard....building himself a car....´54 (?) cherry-red.....(?) a 418.....put it all together and then He drove downtown....He seen this little girl standing on the corner....”
 * 03.11.76 New York City, NY, intro to ´Mona / She´s the One´**

´´We promised....we swore....we promised.....we promised....we swore....we promised.... we´d steal away....we promised....we could slip away....I was gonna....I was gonna take my money out of the bank.....and you were gonna, you were gonna quit your job....I was gonna quit my job too....you promised....when the bells rang....when the bells rang....you promised ....gonna steal away....(?)....and the kids (?) rang the bells....you swore .... you swore....you swore....you swore....and you promised....we were gonna go....we were gonna go.....we were gonna go.....(?) you promised.....we were gonna go....we swore on it....we were gonna....we were gonna go....when the kids, they rang the bells....they rang the bells....they rang the bells ....we were gonna go....we were gonna go....hiding on the backstreets....´´
 * 03.11.76 New York City, NY, middle of ´Backstreets´**

´´There I was....it was me and Miami....it was ´bout six years ago...and we was broke, we didn´t have no money....we were in my (?) we were in this car that my Pop gave me, he smashed it into a tree, he said if I could scrape it off the trunk, I could have it....so I scraped it off the trunk....it was an old, it was a ´63 Impala, a real piece of shit....but it ran....so we were driving down this dark road....it was me and Miami and these two girls, we had this special thing, we´d go into this spot, right....and we were like crying on each other´s shoulders how, you know, we didn´t, we had no money, we had no work, we had no, uh... didn´t have nothing happening for us, right....and just before we got to the spot....just as we were considering doing something real rash....like going out and looking for jobs....out of the sky came this thing (strange guitar sound)....it came a little faster than that, sort of like, uh, sort of like (a faster guitar sound)....sideswiped the car, I was jamming on the brakes, we skid into the mud....I hit my head on the steering wheel....hit my nose on the dashboard, that´s how it got this way....and, and I looked over in the field and there it was, sitting all big and silver, STP sticker....(?) Hooker headers (?) and on the side in big red....´Don Big Daddy Gerwitz - Speeding Machine´, right....so I said ´Miami, come here (?)´, couldn´t figure out how Don got the saucer so we stepped over there.....and we looked around a few times....and all of a sudden this guy popped his head out the window and he was acting real crazy, like, we thought he was from San Francisco or something, you know (chuckles) it was like, couldn´t figure it out....and he sticks his head out and says ´Hey, turkeys, man, where am I, is this, is this Mars, am I, is this Pluto, is this Venus, where´s the dancing girls, where´s the dancing girls ?´, right....we said ´No, no´, started laughing ´cause this turkey thinks he´s, thinks he´s on Venus (chuckles)(?) ´This is New Jersey, man, this ain´t no Venus....(?) you took a wrong turn, man, this is, you´re way out of line, this is like, this is the swamp, we´re right in the mud here, you´re in the swamps ´ so like (?) I asked him if he´s Don Big Daddy, he said no, he just stole this to make the trip and he said something ´bout needing gas money and then he tried to sell us a watch, right (chuckles) so we said ´No´....and finally we said ´Listen´, we said ´Hey man, (?) mud, you gotta help us pull out of here, you know, you knocked us in here´, he said ´Forget it, I´m getting out of here´, bam !....Don slammed it in the first (?) taking up real high, scooted off into the sky, we weren´t gonna let him, we held onto the bottom of the flying saucer, right, and we went screaming up into the air....we´d go a mile, two miles, too many miles, from the sky we, we looked down, we could see.... ´There´s my house !´ (chuckles) oh, man, we were up there so high, right, now, this guy finally gets hip to the fact that we´re hanging on the bottom, right, we´re scooting all over town (?) so finally he screams down ´, tries to get close to the buildings and knock us off, you know....(?) he finally shakes us off over the beach....and we fell into the sand....and just as he was, just as he was driving away, something came flying out the window and landed in the sand about a hundred feet away....so we went over there....and we looked, we looked real close....I picked it up and it was all dirty....and looked like a lamp or something but....but it was no lamp....it was a saxophone....we dusted it off, it said ´Drop in any mailbox´ (?) it said ´Plug here and then get down´....so we plugged it, right, (?) and all of a sudden this mist came out, right.....and this big dude came out of the saxophone....(?) and he opened his coat and he had all these contracts, said ´Whaddya guys want ? You guys wanna be kings ? You wanna be emperors ? You wanna have your own gas-station ? Tell me right now, I hook you guys up right away´, right, so we thought real hard and we said ´Mister....Mister whoever you are, Mister, we wanna be.....we wanna be....we don´t wanna be bums like we are....we wanna be.....we wanna be.....rock and roll stars !....´
 * 03.11.76 New York City, NY, middle of ´Growin´Up´**

´´(?) my mother calls me up at my house all the time....I keep trying to hide the phone number from her, you know, but like my sister comes over and (?) my telephone and calls her up and tells her, you know, so she calls me up....and like, my mother, she´s funny, like, she saves like a scrapbook of everything....you know, she´s had like a scrapbook like from when I was, you know, first starting out, first jobs and you know like (?) mothers usually do that stuff and so, but my mother, she´s funny, like she don´t call me up and say, you know, she don´t call me up and tell me the good stuff, she always calls me up and like she reads the bad stuff to me over the phone, like she called me up, I hear someone like laughing on the other end and say ´Hey, Brucie, they got you in, in the, uh, in the, uh, in the, uh, Post today, boy´ (chuckles) ´This cat says (?)´ and like she laughs and, and reads the (?) over the phone all the time, you know, and it´s like....and so me and the band, we got to do, we got to do this thing, like, watch the papers the next day, right, and see what stuff they said, you know, and then I call up Miami´s room when he´s sleeping, like, early in the morning and go ´Miami, this cat says, boy, they got you in the Times today, man´ (chuckles)(?) reminds me like when I was a kid, you know, and uh....(?) and everybody used to say....When some loud bragger tries to put me down, he says we ain´t so great, I tell him right away: ´Now, what´s the matter, buddy, ain´t you heard of my band ? we´re number one in the state´, so be true to your band now....just like you would to your girl or guy....be true to your boys now (chuckles)....and let the colors fly....you gotta be true to your band !.... (....) We got with us a long list of celebrities and stars....we´re gonna bring ´em all up now.... let´s have a nice round of applause, the (Miami Horns cut Bruce off) I didn´t introduce you yet....the Miami Horns....on the left....at the piano....Professor Roy Bittan....play it, Roy.... next....poet, artiste, producer, manager....how can I say it ?....poet of the soul, master of rock and roll, the man who brought you such hits as ´Sweeter than Honey´, ´I Don´t Wanna Go Home´....the magnificent Miami Steve.....(?)....on the bass guitar, Mr.Garry W. Tallent....in his new black suit....on the drums, for all the folks from South Orange, the Mighty Max....on the organ, Phantom Dan Federici.....last but not least....we have (?) all the voting booths in Hoboken to take an accurate count....(?) your next President....Mr.Hollywood.....king of the world.....master of the (?) universe.....on the saxophone....Big Man, Clarence Clemons....”
 * 03.11.76 New York City, NY, intro to ´Rosalita´**

´´Thanks.....I wanna thank everybody for coming down to the show....this is something to you from Asbury Park with love....´´
 * 03.11.76 New York City, NY, intro to ´Sandy´**

´´(?)....oh, this song is one of our favorite songs and....this is for Patti (Patti Smith)....(?)....´´
 * 03.11.76 New York City, NY, intro to ´A Fine Fine Girl´**

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi//